all morning. texas congresswoman sheila jackson lee was at a town hall meeting. she was supposed to be listening in and directing with constituents. steve: when tracy miller, a cancer survivor, ask the question, in the middle of the question, the commerce woman took a phone call -- the commerce woman took a phone call -- the congresswoman took a phone call. >> she is not even listening. >> seriously? brian: we spoke to tracy miller earlier this morning. alisyn: tell us what the mood was as this was happening. >> people in the room were upset that she was taking a phone call. the lady behind me told cobbers woman jackson lee that she was being very rude -- told congresswoman jackson lee that she was being very rude. she snapped back at the elementary she said she could multitask. -- south back at the woman. she said she could multitask. steve: she said the reason she was on the phone was because she had called into a health-care hot line to ask for an answer to question. does that sound right to you? did it seem like she called into the hot line to ask a question? or was she taking a

town hall moment. sheila jackson-lee, while a woman is pouring her heart out about health care, takes a phone call. we'll show you the video when we come back. bicycle, i've missed you. gathering dust, as pollen floats through the air. but with the strength of zyrtec ® , the fastest, 24-hour allergy relief, i promise not to wait as long to go for our ride. with zyrtec ® i can love the air ™ . when morning comes in the middle of the night... rooster crow. ...it affects your entire day. to get a good night's sleep, try 2-layer ambien cr. the first layer dissolves quickly to help you fall asleep. and unlike other sleep aids, a second dissolves slowly to help you stay asleep. when taking ambien cr, don't drive or operate machinery. sleepwalking, and eating or driving while not fully awake with memory loss for the event as well as abnormal behaviors such as being more outgoing or aggressive than normal, confusion, agitation and halluciations may occur. don't take it with alcohol as it may increase these behaviors. allergic reactions such as shortness of breath, swelling of your

is probably a distraction. but what sheila jackson lee has done is not because sheila jackson lee has a consistent history of serving her constituents. >> okay. >> and i served that lady by having a town hall meeting that she could come to in the middle of the day. >> i get it. >> i look forward to working with you. >> we are out of time. congresswoman, very courageous of you to come on. i know it's a difficult thing. wolf blitzer is standing by. he, too, will be covering stories like this in "the situation room." >>> rick, thank you. happening now, something the white house is doing raising some eyebrows out there. it involves health care reform and possibly your e-mail inbox. >>> a convicted bomber seeks mercy. he's in prison for a notorious terrorist act, the bombing of pan am flight 103, killing a lot of americans. now outrage. he may soon be set free after serving only about eight years. >>> and plane down. it ditches in the middle of the sea, and a pilot stands on the plane as it sinks. you might not believe what happened next. one witness said, and i'm quoting now, i thought i'

this video making the rounds. sheila jackson lee on a cell phone at a town hall meeting as a cancer survivor was asking a question. someone was heard saying she's not even listening. she said she was not taking a call, she was calling a congressional hot line with answers to health care questions. joining us now, candy crowley, tom foreman and joe jackson. it certainly looks leak a literal representation of the common complaint which you've no doubt heard. you've been at these town hall meetings that members of congress aren't listening to their constituents' complaints. >> i see a political ad coming with that. it's emblem attatic, something people can use for campaign purposes. i think i've heard probably at every town hall meeting i was at yesterday, there were four of them, i heard one person say to iowa senator chuck grassley, we don't know what's going on. we don't feel as if anyone is listening to us. it's a common complaint, i have to say. people always feel that representatives of congress don't listen to people like them as they say. the fact of the matter is that right no

. gretchen: tracy miller was the woman who goes to the town hall meeting in texas. her congress member there sheila lee jackson takes her question -- by the way she is a cancer survivor. speaking out asking a question. the camera pans away. what is sheila jackson lee doing while tracy is asking her the question? steve: she is on the phone. gretchen: she is on her cell phone. jackson lee later explained to i think it was the hill or "roll call" newspaper down in washington what she was doing was speaking to somebody at the i-there is a hotline that's been set up so you can get quick answers to somebody. she was talking to somebody on the hotline to get some answers to some questions. extraordinarily the woman had not asked a question yet. and, yet, there she was doing it anyway, she was on -- sheila jackson lee was on greta the other day. greta was trying to get her you know are you going to apologize? do you feel bad? were you rude? here is what the congresswoman had to say. >> i certainly can understand if offense was taken. it was not meant to be. and i hope that tracy will come to my town hall meetings as i

call that led to on air apology sheila jackson lee to the town hall attendee she insulted while talking on the phone during that woman's question. now that town haller, a cancer survivor and single mom is challenging congress lee to a debate. let's take a listen to the challenge tracy issued ton a youtube video. >> this time i think it is even more important that you and other members of congress hear equally from myself and others who believe that hr 3200 is bad for america and why it is bad for america. i would like to invite to you have this dialogue in a public forum or debate which is acceptable to you whoa, tracy girl joins us to tell us more about this video challenge. good morning to you. >> good morning. steve: that is brilliant. sheila jackson lee from your district in the houston area she had said well well i'm sorry tracy i hope you will come to a town hall. steve: you turned it around i will come to your town hall but i want to debate the issue. who came up with this idea? >> a friend of mine and myself both were thinking of it when we talked the next day following

there at 9:00 a.m. a town hall on health at kennedy king college. i would say this, i want to thank congresswoman sheila jackson-lee, congressman rush, congressman david kelly, and congresswoman corinne brown who had to leave here. but most important dlip as congressman davis said, i thank you all for being here in the spirit of congressman rush and mr. davis' childhood story -- on august 28, he asked us would we commit to a day of nonviolence in the city of chicago and across this nation. and as congresswoman kelly said -- sometimes if you were preaching to the choir. i think we know the answer to that question. but in that spirit and leading us in a celebration of positivity to the end of the evening, if you would commit to that day and every day, would you please stand up. let's have a safe evening this evening on friday. god bless the city of chicago and god bless these united states of america. thank you so much. [applause] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2013] >> coming up, a conversation on the effect that this it reduction has on the u.s. economy